A record 71,300 more migrants arrived in New Zealand than left in the January 2017 year, Statistics New Zealand said today. This surpassed the previous annual record set in December 2016. The net gain reflected an increasing number of people arriving here and fewer leaving to live overseas.

Migrant arrivals numbered 128,300 in the January 2017 year, a new annual record.

"About a fifth of all migrant arrivals were from Australia," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said. "Almost two-thirds of the migrant arrivals from Australia were New Zealand citizens."